Pneumatic tube delivery systems are widely used in various institutions. Although, these systems are implemented in different forms depending on the nature of operations and transactions carried out at various facilities, the systems generally share basic components. First, a network of tubular conduits is established throughout the facility, branching to outlets connected to respective send/receive workstations, or portals. Items of interest may be transported between workstations via the conduits in capsule-like carriers, the contents of which are filled, for example, by users at sending workstations and emptied by users at receiving workstations. Alternatively, the packaging of the item itself may act as the carrier so that the item is not required to be housed within a separate carrier apparatus for delivery.
Pneumatic tube delivery systems are employed, for example, in financial institutions such as banks to remotely conduct customer transactions in real time. Industrial and retail facilities also employ these systems to transport payload items such as documents, currency, parts, or merchandise from one location to another. Perhaps the most prevalent and demanding uses are in healthcare institutions such as hospitals, where the need for quick, efficient and secure transport of physical items between remote locations within a large facility, or multiple facilities, tends to be the rule, not the exception. For instance, a pneumatic tube delivery system within the healthcare industry allows departments in hospitals to send the most delicate of items from any station to any other station in the system. Items such as pharmaceuticals, lab specimens, blood products, and the like must be passed between different staff members quickly and reliably. It is not uncommon for a hospital to carry out several thousands of transports of delicate payloads like this on a daily basis.
The carriers' travel through the network of conduits is driven by one or more blower units which generate pneumatic flow (such as by pressure or by vacuum) sufficient to propel the carriers through different portions of the network. Typically, a computer-based controller unit(s) operates to regulate carrier traffic and maintain overall system operation. The network of conduits may be quite complex even in modest sized facilities, since delivery access between every combination of workstations is often required. The network generally incorporates multi-port diverters, or transfer units, at intermediate points physically transferring carriers from one branch (or section) of the conduit network to another for delivery to the proper destination outlet. While such diverter/transfer units markedly reduce redundancy in conduit segments, the network remains quite elaborate in systems serving numerous outlets, with individual conduit segments making numerous turns and bends to serve the many workstations.
In healthcare settings, items such as blood work and other test results, may be highly time sensitive, temperature sensitive and/or impact sensitive. However, the size of certain healthcare facilities and the number of required workstations often push the limits of typical pneumatic tube delivery system. In current systems that include large numbers of workstations arranged in multiple operating subsystems, it is difficult to monitor the locations of the carriers. Furthermore it is difficult to monitor the conditions of the carriers, the contents within the carriers and the network of tubing. Hence, there is a need for a delivery routing system that permits the tracking of carriers and their contents while monitoring the status and conditions of the delivery routing system.